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darkflounder

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 15, 2008
163
3
SF Bay Area, California
Here's a beer. Sit down and put your feet up. This might take a while.

Bought an iPhone 4 (AT&T) from the Apple Store in early Jan 2011. In the two years of the account, had the phone replaced under warranty twice (first for the home button problem, second for a crack in the LCD (under the glass) that developed a week after getting it).

In late Jan 2013, tried to use the AT&T unlock device site to unlock the phone. Got a reply that said the following.

We can't complete your request for one of these reasons:

The service commitment for this iPhone has not been completed.
We couldn't find a valid current or former mobile number associated with the request.

I assume this is because the IMEI of my current phone does not match the IMEI of the phone I originally purchased. I (unfortunately) didn't pursue it any further at that point.

A month later, the business that I partially own (and paid my phone bills) was struggling and the phone bill didn't get paid for a few months. The phone got disconnected, and eventually, the account was deactivated by AT&T.

Fast forward to today. Went to the AT&T store to pay up the past due balance, get the phone unlocked, and get it set up on T-Mobile. AT&T was unable to help, since I no longer had an account with AT&T (in fact, my former phone number has been reassigned to another customer).

AT&T cannot request an unlock from Apple if there is no account active for the phone in question.

When I asked about activating a new account for this phone, I was told that AT&T does not do "bring your own phone" plans. When I asked about a pre-paid plan, I was told that AT&T does not do pre-paid for iPhones.

So, I left the AT&T store, being referred to the phone kiosk at the mall that is rumored to be able to unlock iPhones.

Currently, I resubmitted a request to the AT&T unlock device page. When that comes back negative, I'll call AT&T support and take that as far as I go. Then, I'll call Apple support.

Anybody else ever been able to get an AT&T iPhone (post-contract) successfully unlocked after having the account deactivated?

If all else fails, I can either sell it as is on eBay, or I do owe my son an iPod Touch.
 
Last edited:
Here's a beer. Sit down and put your feet up. This might take a while.

Bought an iPhone 4 (AT&T) from the Apple Store in early Jan 2011. In the two years of the account, had the phone replaced under warranty twice (first for the home button problem, second for a crack in the LCD (under the glass) that developed a week after getting it).

In late Jan 2013, tried to use the AT&T unlock device site to unlock the phone. Got a reply that said the following.



I assume this is because the IMEI of my current phone does not match the IMEI of the phone I originally purchased. I (unfortunately) didn't pursue it any further at that point.

A month later, the business that I partially own (and paid my phone bills) was struggling and the phone bill didn't get paid for a few months. The phone got disconnected, and eventually, the account was deactivated by AT&T.

Fast forward to today. Went to the AT&T store to pay up the past due balance, get the phone unlocked, and get it set up on T-Mobile. AT&T was unable to help, since I no longer had an account with AT&T (in fact, my former phone number has been reassigned to another customer).

AT&T cannot request an unlock from Apple if there is no account active for the phone in question.

When I asked about activating a new account for this phone, I was told that AT&T does not do "bring your own phone" plans. When I asked about a pre-paid plan, I was told that AT&T does not do pre-paid for iPhones.

So, I left the AT&T store, being referred to the phone kiosk at the mall that is rumored to be able to unlock iPhones.

Currently, I resubmitted a request to the AT&T unlock device page. When that comes back negative, I'll call AT&T support and take that as far as I go. Then, I'll call Apple support.

Anybody else ever been able to get an AT&T iPhone (post-contract) successfully unlocked after having the account deactivated?

If all else fails, I can either sell it as is on eBay, or I do owe my son an iPod Touch.

Question is, have you paid off what you owe them?
 
Question is, have you paid off what you owe them?

The phone account was in my business partner's name, and has been sent to collections. I was prepared to pay the past due this morning, but it never really came up. The issue wasn't the past due amount, but the lack of an active AT&T account.

----------

Why don't you skip through all that and just pay $2 to have it IMEI factory unlocked?
Then you can use it on any gsm carrier you want.

Please elaborate.
 
The phone account was in my business partner's name, and has been sent to collections. I was prepared to pay the past due this morning, but it never really came up. The issue wasn't the past due amount, but the lack of an active AT&T account.

----------



Please elaborate.

Swiftunlocks.com

Skip the AT&T circus. This does the same thing for only $2.
 
The phone account was in my business partner's name, and has been sent to collections. I was prepared to pay the past due this morning, but it never really came up. The issue wasn't the past due amount, but the lack of an active AT&T account.

----------



Please elaborate.

He meant paying for one of those online IMEI unlocks found on eBay. They usually charge a small fee like $2 or $5 for the unlock. And it's IMEI based so exactly the same as a factory unlock.
 
The phone account was in my business partner's name, and has been sent to collections. I was prepared to pay the past due this morning, but it never really came up. The issue wasn't the past due amount, but the lack of an active AT&T account.

----------



Please elaborate.

That shouldn't matter. I closed two AT&T accounts a year ago and never paid the ETFs and AT&T still unlocked my 3GS. All that matters is the account that the iPhone is tied to like you have said.
 
If AT&T goes bankrupt tomorrow I say good for humanity.

Went over one of their unlock exercise just to get a FORM email back saying, "Request Denied due to Incomplete Information (checked 3 times) or Unauthorized Purchase." I want to shout WHAT DO YOU CARE, I don't owe you any money and it's locked to you so release your shackle you %*&^@#.
 
Wanted to send out a HUGE thank you to the recommendation of SwiftUnlocks.

Paid the $2, got the notification of unlock within 4 hours. Wiped and restored the phone, got verification of the unlock, and then off to T-Mobile.

Thanks everybody!
 
Why the 1400% price hike in the past 60 days?

I unlocked an iPhone 5 with 6.1.3 from Verizon to T-mobile with one of the services recommended here. Likely swiftunlock, for $2 in early August.

It appears that the going rate of ($25-$30) has outpaced inflation & the cost of living by a large margin.


I'm having a hard time adjusting to the new price. Perhaps if someone provided an explanation, it would make this easier to chew?:confused:
 
I unlocked an iPhone 5 with 6.1.3 from Verizon to T-mobile with one of the services recommended here. Likely swiftunlock, for $2 in early August.

It appears that the going rate of ($25-$30) has outpaced inflation & the cost of living by a large margin.


I'm having a hard time adjusting to the new price. Perhaps if someone provided an explanation, it would make this easier to chew?:confused:

From what I understand, AT&T changed the way it unlocks phones.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1649366/

^ massive thread on the subject
 
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